President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met behind closed doors with Senate President Ahmad Lawan, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Vanguardng report.
Although the agenda of the meeting was not made public, it might not be unconnected to the ministerial list expected to be submitted to the National Assembly when the lawmakers resume sitting from July 2.
Already a government source has hinted that the recess embarked upon by the National Assembly coupled with the non-composition of the principal officers by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC were contributing factors to the delay.
After the meeting, the Senate President refused to answer questions from State House correspondents that wanted to know the agenda and outcome of his meeting with the President.
There has been anxiety over why President Buhari has not constituted his cabinet one month after the inauguration of his second term on May 29, 2019.
Recall that it took about six months for the President to set up his cabinet in 2015 when he took over from former President Goodluck Jonathan and there was the insinuation that the delay in constituting the cabinet was responsible for the economic recession in 2016.
But Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha was reported to have told journalists on the sideline of the 26th Annual Meeting of the Africa Export-Import, Afreximbank 2019 in Moscow, Russia, that Buhari has reflected over constituting his cabinet and that it will be placed before the National Assembly as quickly as possible.
The SGF said that going to the next level, the Buhari administration would focus more on the desired effect of achieving the tangible result in the fight against corruption, revamping the economy and securing the country.
Explaining the reason for the delay in announcing the cabinet, the SGF said, “Our system is unique unlike others; we have an executive system where your membership of a parliament denies you of the opportunity of being the minister unless you resign from parliament to become a minister.
“The president is working on his list or must have concluded and he mentioned it in his democracy day broadcast that he is going to assembly competent Nigerians that will help him implement his programs
“Mr President was inaugurated on May 29, we had the democracy day celebration. It was a choked up programme as we had to work towards the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly because there is nothing you can do in the National Assembly if their leadership does not emerge from your party.
“So far, we have part of the leadership that has emerged and the other part will emerge properly after they return from their recession.”
